State Parks

The state purchased land from the Watoga Land Association for the Watoga State Forest

The Kessinger Brothers started performing on radio station WOBU (WCHS)

A new city council was seated in Hinton

Guyan Valley High School was built in Pleasant View

Kyle McCormick became publisher of the Princeton Observer

A granite monument marking Zackquill Morgan's grave was erected

Lawrence Nuttall donated his plant collection to the WVU Herbarium

The American Viscose Corporation started rayon production in South Parkersburg

Giuseppe Argiro of Fairmont was credited with creating the pepperoni roll

1,099 cases of smallpox were reported in West Virginia

The state's milk control program began

The federal court case United Mine Workers of America v. Red Jacket Consolidation Coal and Coke Company affirmed the use of injunctions against union organizing efforts

Blind Alfred Reed wrote "The Wreck of the Virginian"

Walter Reuther moved to Detroit

Frederick H. Rhead joined the Laughlin Company

The boundaries of the Monongahela National Forest were extended to include the Smoke Hole

Festus Summers studied at Columbia University

The William Byrne Elk River tales began a regular feature in the West Virginia Wild Life Magazine, and were later published as Tale of the Elk

Sam Taylor ended his state police career after losing a leg in an on-duty motorcycle accident

W.W. Trent became president of Alderson-Broaddus College

A planing mill in Parson became a woolen mill

Consolidation Coal Company became the largest independent bituminous mining company in the nation

Ernest T. Weir took over as chief executive officer of National Steel

I. C. White stopped serving as first director of the West Virginia Geological & Economic Survey

Lenna Lowe Yost became the first woman to serve on the West Virginia Wesleyan College Board of Trustees

Gas leak and fire destroyed much of the glass factory, but the company resumed a year later

Vernon Johnson was reelected as Speaker of the House of Delegates

Southern tract of present Calvin W. Price State Forest was sold to the state by New River Company

Carr China Company went out of business

Statewide circulation of the Charleston Gazette peaked at 86,000

Consolidated Bus Lines employed 337 individuals and operated 100 buses

Phoebia Moore died

Phyllis Curtin made her debut with New York City Opera

John Warren Davis retired as president of West Virginia State

Julius DeGruyter wrote The Kanawha Spectator: History of the Kanawha Valley

The Dunbar-South Charleston Bridge opened as a toll bridge

Gunner Gatski earned All-Pro honors in football

Perry Gresham became president of Bethany College

Perry Gresham wrote Disciples of the High Calling

John Ailes became editor of the Hampshire Review, Hampshire County

Hardy County Heritage Weekend began at Mill Island

Another 400 acres was added for the Harpers Ferry National Monument

Ken Hechler became the associate director of the American Political Science Association

Jean Lee Latham wrote The Story of Eli Whitney

The Library Commission moved to Charleston from Morgantown

The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers left West Virginia

A fire damaged the Martinsburg Journal building

"Speedy" Estep was killed racing a stock car in Columbus, Ohio

Davis Grubb wrote Night of the Hunter

A trail at the WVU Arboretum was named in honor of Lawrence Nuttall

Eldora Nuzum joined the Elkins Inter-Mountain

The West Virginia State Poultry Association annual meeting moved to Moorefield

Distribution of Salk polio vaccine

Chuck Ripper moved to Huntington as art director for the Standard Printing & Publishing Co.

Rat Rodgers was admitted to the College Football Hall of Fame

Eleanor Roosevelt stopped serving as U.S. representative to the United Nations

Alex Schoenbaum's restaurant chain was named Shoney's

WVU played in the Sugar Bowl

WKNA TV when on air in Charleston as channel 49

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Kanawha Valley was established

Oscar Nelson died

The initial accreditation attempt for Morris Harvey College (now University of Charleston) failed

The Baptist State Convention began to meet at Hilltop

William J. Wallace became president of West Virginia State College

Enrollment at West Virginia State College was at 837 students

WJLS-FM Beckley became WBKW-FM

William B. Axtell became president of West Virginia Institute of Technology

Katherine Johnson began working with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics as a “computer” doing complex analysis and calculations

Toni Stone joined the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League